Chapter 14 - The Hand in the Photograph
Tessa brought my laptop to the hospital. Nathan stayed in the hall while Mia and I opened the family photo folder. Our mother's face filled the screen first, holding a birthday cake with three crooked candles. I almost couldn't bear to scroll past her.
The new image was at the bottom. It had been uploaded at 9:08 p.m. the night before the wedding.
There was Owen near the conservatory door, one arm lifted to hide the bottle inside his jacket. Beside him stood a woman in a pale cardigan. Only her profile was visible, but I knew the hard line of her nose and the diamonds in her ears.
Celeste Mercer.
"She gave him the bottle?" Nathan asked from behind us.
I hadn't heard him enter. He stared at the screen as if it belonged to a stranger's life.
"The photo shows her handing him something," I said. "We can't tell what's in it."
Mia enlarged the image. A bright yellow warning label curved around the plastic. Celeste's fingers held its base.
Nathan gripped the bed rail. "She told me she'd spent the evening at the hotel."
Moreno took a copy of the original image and confirmed its upload history. An officer had also recovered the abandoned truck, whose cargo area contained tape matching the bindings on Mia's wrists. Caleb's work jacket was found under the seat. The evidence was starting to form a chain no lawyer could explain away with the word misunderstanding.
I expected to feel triumphant. Instead I felt exhausted. My wedding dress smelled like antiseptic. The bouquet had wilted in a plastic hospital pitcher. My face throbbed beneath the dressings.
Dr. Shah checked my injuries and told me I needed further specialist appointments. "Some areas are healing better than we feared," she said. "Other areas will take time. We won't know the final result for a while."
I nodded as though she were discussing somebody else's skin.
When she left, Nathan sat beside me. "I love you," he said. "But I know those words can't fix what happened."
"No," I whispered. "They can't."
His phone rang. Moreno was calling to say officers had found Caleb near the river. He had given a statement in exchange for the chance to discuss a plea.
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According to Caleb, Owen had not acted alone. And he had one more place he intended to go before disappearing.
The original Lark Street records were still in Nathan's office safe.
